BREAKING – CBS release: “Mitt Romney and … Paul Ryan … will give their first joint interview to Bob Schieffer, the CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent and Anchor of FACE THE NATION. The interview, to be taped today in High Point, N.C,. will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES tonight … (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT).”

A QUESTION WE PREDICT SCHIEFFER WILL ASK RYAN: “How many years of tax returns did the Romney campaign ask you for?”

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BOB’S FOLLOW-UP TO ROMNEY: “Do you think the American people deserve less?”

BEHIND THE CURTAIN – “Behind the scenes, Romney wanted Ryan,” by Mike Allen, Ginger Gibson and Maggie Haberman: “Determined to foil reporters tracking flights from Wisconsin to Boston, the Romney campaign booked Paul Ryan on a flight from Chicago to Hartford, Conn., where the 42-year-old lawmaker was picked up in a rented SUV by 19-year-old Curt Myers, son of the aide leading the vice presidential search process. The casually-dressed Ryan — wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and jeans — was driven to the home of the longtime aide, Beth Myers, in suburban Brookline, Mass., six miles from campaign headquarters last Sunday, Aug. 5. Romney and Ryan were left alone in the dining room. ‘We talked about the campaign, how we would work together, how the relationship would be, how we would interact and make big decisions,’ Romney [told his press corps on a flight from Dulles to Charlotte] ...

“The stealthy meeting was the climax of a bruising four-month vetting process that started with 20 candidates and ended with three finalists — Ryan, plus Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. Friends said Romney became uncharacteristically stressed as he stewed over the final cut as he realized that this would be the sole chance he would have to dramatically affect his campaign’s standing, without depending on outside forces. The former Massachusetts governor sought counsel not only from those inside his campaign, but also friends and confidants outside his staff, said Beth Myers, who led the VP search [at a briefing for Romney’s traveling press yesterday at a private hangar at Dulles].

“One friend said the decision amounted to Romney taking control of his own campaign: He picked someone he felt comfortable with and who appealed to his intellect and wonkier side — rather than someone who helped with, say, Hispanics or Ohio. Ryan is 42, the same age as Romney’s oldest son, Tagg, giving the ticket a father-son aura. ‘Mitt sees a bit of himself in Ryan,’ said a top Romney adviser. ‘They’re both data guys, policy guys, details guys. It’s fun to watch them together — sometimes they go into wonk-world together.’ …

“The VP announcement was originally scheduled for New Hampshire [on Friday], but was postponed a day so Ryan could attend the memorial service in Oak Creek, Wis., for the victims of the shooting rampage at the Sikh Temple. The campaign decided on Norfolk and picked two airports from which to transport the Ryan family: from Woukegan, about an hour from the Ryan home in Janesville, to Elizabeth, N.C., an hour from where the announcement would be made. … Myers was among the senior staff members who flew into Norfolk with Romney late Friday.

“While Romney went to his hotel, a livery car took Myers to the Fairfield Inn in Elizabeth City, where she and top campaign advisers Ed Gillespie and Dan Senor connected with Ryan when he flew in. Once again, Ryan had been picked up by Myers’s son, Curt, a student at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., who has been volunteering on the Romney campaign this summer … Curt was sent out to pick up Applebee’s for dinner and the kids settled in for the night while Ryan did a little bit of speech prep. … On Saturday morning, two cars were loaded with staff and the Ryan family and a single Secret Service agent escorted them to Norfolk, where he and Romney began their three-month odyssey.” http://politi.co/R4F4Gn

KNOWING RYAN -- “5 keys to understanding Paul Ryan,” by Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan: “At age 42, he’s been trawling these corridors for nearly two decades, starting as a coolly pleasant but hotly ambitious staff member, to nearly 14 years as a fast-rising lawmaker on his own. … He is an unquestioned ideologue, a committed conservative since his days as an acolyte of tax-cutter Jack Kemp but also a team player — someone capable of rocking the boat in the Republican caucus but never one to tip it over. He is widely perceived, even by Democrats, as a friendly man in an angry age in Washington. But he is also unmistakably a self-contained politician. Here, based on years of observing Ryan in action, are five keys to help understand what makes the GOP’s new man of the moment tick:

“1) He’s a man in a hurry — and has been for a long time. When Ryan was in his twenties — he began his political career as an intern for Wisconsin GOP Sen. Bob Kasten in 1991 — it was already obvious to anyone who spent time around him that he had his future mapped out with uncommon precision. He told reporters in the Capitol that he was going to run for Congress in his native Wisconsin, and he made it clear he had a clear plan for winning. … 2) He’s a creature of the Capitol. Unlike many of his colleagues, some of whom talk endlessly about short and seemingly inconsequential business careers to establish private-sector bona fides, virtually all of Ryan’s professional experience is in Washington. …

“3) He feels misunderstood. Ryan is nothing if not earnest about his obsessions. He is defined by a belief that he is on a long-term, often solitary quest to save the United States of America from the ills of crushing debt, unsustainable entitlements and a broken Tax Code. He simply doesn’t understand why everyone else won’t march in lockstep. … 4) He’s an island. … Ryan can be aloof at times – just like Obama. In interviews, he’s engaging, charismatic, a true believer in the principles he espouses. … 5) He’s a loyal soldier — mostly. The continual theme of Ryan’s legislative career has been a willingness to accept risks that would make more conventional politicians blanch.” http://politi.co/NvY8GU

ROMNEY TALKING POINTS ON RYAN, via Maggie Haberman: “The Romney-Ryan ticket will continue to put forward idea after idea on how to grow the economy and get spending under control. We are happy to compare our understanding and knowledge with President Obama’s failed record on jobs and financial control any day. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have proven records of solving problems, compared to this Administration’s failed record. … President Obama’s campaign has accused Mitt Romney of committing crimes and killing people, and now they are making false charges against Paul Ryan. They have lost all credibility. …

“Does this mean Mitt Romney is adopting the Paul Ryan plan? Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget, and as president he will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance. Romney’s administration will go through the budget line by line and ask two questions: Can we afford it? And, if not, should we borrow money from China to pay for it?”

** A message from Hyundai: Through our success, Hyundai has contributed more than 94,000 jobs all over the U.S. in the areas of manufacturing, engineering, research and development, and sales, including supplier-related, indirect and spin-off jobs. At Hyundai, we’re creating something even better than some of the best cars on the road – American jobs. Log on to www.HyundaiAmerica.us to learn more about how we’re a proud partner in the American Dream. **

SUNDAY BEST:

RNC CHAIR REINCE PRIEBUS, to David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “[T]he American people deserve to know the truth as to where we're at in this economy. … I think what America's starving for is not only people have their word to run for office, but they're hungry for people to govern like they campaigned. And what this shows the country is that Mitt Romney is willing to govern like he's campaigning. It's not enough to win. But we have to fix the problems that are facing this country.”

ERIC FEHRNSTROM, to Nancy Cordes on CBS’s “Face the Nation:”: “This was a big, bold courageous choice by Governor Romney. It indicates that he’s not only interested in taking on the jobs crisis in this country, but he also wants to address the fiscal crisis as well. This is no time for complacency. …

“And I think in the selection of Paul Ryan as a running mate, Mitt Romney has claimed for the Republican ticket the mantle of change. I think it also indicates that Mitt Romney is going to be running an issue-oriented campaign waged on big ideas and not engaged in the type of negative, nasty politics we’ve seen from the Barack Obama campaign.”

DAVID AXELROD, to Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think it has helped further define the race. I don't think it has shaken up the race, because Governor Romney has embraced many of the positions that Congressman Ryan espouses, extreme as they sound. I mean, he is for the trillions of dollars of tax cuts for millionaires. …

“Congressman Ryan had a proposal in 2010, if you took Governor Romney's tax returns and applied the changes that Congressman Ryan wanted to make to the tax system, Governor Romney would pay less than 1 percent on his taxes. We know he paid 13.9 percent. …. I think they are kindred spirits on some of these policies.”

COMING ATTRACTIONS – “TO: Interested Parties … FROM: Jesse Ferguson, DCCC Communications Director … RE: Ryan Budget Puts Republicans in Deep Jeopardy over Medicare … Bring it on. House Democrats and candidates have been hungry for a national debate on the failed policies in Paul Ryan’s Republican budget that ends Medicare and Mitt Romney just gave that to us and to Democratic candidates across the country. …

“[T]the Republican budget authored by Ryan is now the ticket mate for every Republican in a Congressional race this November. … From national polling, and after testing this issue in Republican-leaning districts during special elections, it’s crystal clear this will be a defining issue in Congressional races across the country and House Republicans can’t escape the political devastation it will cause them.”

** A message from Hyundai: Through our success, Hyundai has contributed more than 94,000 jobs all over the U.S. in the areas of manufacturing, engineering, research and development, and sales, including supplier-related, indirect and spin-off jobs. At Hyundai, we’re creating something even better than some of the best cars on the road – American jobs. Log on to www.HyundaiAmerica.us to learn more about how we’re a proud partner in the American Dream. **

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Authors:

About The Author

Mike Allen is the chief White House correspondent for POLITICO. He comes to us from Time magazine where he was their White House correspondent. Prior to that, Allen spent six years at The Washington Post, where he covered President Bush's first term, Capitol Hill, campaign finance, and the Bush, Gore and Bradley campaigns of 2000. Before turning to national politics, he covered schools and local governments in rural counties outside Fredericksburg, Va., for The Free Lance-Star, then wrote about Doug Wilder, Oliver North, Chuck Robb and the Bobbitts for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he nurtured police sources on overnight ride-alongs through housing projects. Allen also covered Mayor Giuliani, the Connecticut statehouse and the wacky rich of Greenwich for The New York Times. Before moving to The Times, he did stints in the Richmond and Alexandria bureaus of The Washington Post. Allen grew up in Orange County, Calif., and has a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, where he majored in politics and journalism.